The Mission: Impossible franchise has almost single-handedly launched Tom Cruise back into movie star status. When Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol came out in 2011, both the film franchise and its lead had almost fallen by the wayside as far as audiences were concerned. After nearly three decades of being a movie star, was it possible that Cruise had just passed his prime? Answer: no.

Ghost Protocol was the beginning of a new phase of Cruise’s career, and with the upcoming Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation being praised as the best entry into the franchise yet, it doesn’t look like Cruise or his marquee franchise are showing any signs of slowing down yet.

While on The Daily Showrecently as well, Cruise revealed that they have just begun work on the sixth film in the franchise, with the hopes of beginning production sometime next summer. Now, logistically, that means that audiences could see another Mission: Impossible film as early as 2017, if the production goes well and the post-production period doesn’t take too long. Which would also make it the shortest time between Mission: Impossible sequels.

Whether or not this will actually happen though, remains up in the air, especially considering Cruise didn’t say that they were definitely going to be shooting the film next summer. It also depends on how long it takes to construct a quality script for the film, getting a director, and trying to figure out which cast members will be returning and which ones won’t, since the Impossible franchise has a knack for switching out several characters with others in each new film.

The Mission: Impossible franchise has always seemed to do well with audiences though, as it mixes the perfect kind of summer blockbuster fun with the intelligent James Bond-esque spy films. Now that Cruise seems to be back to being universally liked both in the industry and by the viewers too, it’s nearly inevitable we’ll be getting a sixth film sometime within the next few years. We just don’t know for sure when that will be, and most likely won’t for some time.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation hits theaters this Friday!

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